Just Dial ends FY17 on weak note with 37.2% drop in net profit

For FY17, Just Dial clocked an operating EBITDA of Rs 109.6 crores while adjusted operating EBITDA for the full year stood at Rs 125.5 crores.Supraja Srinivasan | ET Bureau | Updated: May 21, 2017, 23:01 IST

Online classifieds portal Just Dial ended FY17 on a weak note with a 37.2% fall in standalone net profit at Rs 25.3 crores as compared to the same period last year.

Net profit was down 7.6% on a sequential basis. The company clocked a net profit margin of 13% in the quarter and 15% for the full year.

But the much-awaited release of the company’s long delayed advertising campaign has brought a minor cheer to the topline with operating revenue in Q4FY17 rising 5.9% to come in at Rs 181.7 crores from Rs 171.6 crores last year.

“Our focus continues towards getting the core business back on track. We are seeing encouraging signs post the launch of our ad campaign during the quarter,” said VSS Mani, CEO of the company.

For FY17, Just Dial clocked an operating EBITDA of Rs 109.6 crores while adjusted operating EBITDA for the full year stood at Rs 125.5 crores. For Q4FY17, however the adjusted operating EBITDA stood at Rs 35.9 crores excluding ESOP spends of Rs 3.7 crores during the quarter.

For the quarter, paid listings grew 18% to 4,35,360 from the 3,68,800 last year. Just Dial also saw listings grow to 17.9 million – an increase of 9.5% from 16.3 million listings last year.

Despite focus on sales hiring in the last few quarters employee headcount had declined due to performance related exits. In Q3, the company had said that it would pause on additional hiring which has seen employee expenses slightly shrink to Rs 108.8 crores in Q4 as against Rs 111.8 crores in the previous quarter. As of Q4FY17, Just Dial has 11,334 employees.